Processing of waste material

Abstract

An apparatus and method for chemically and physically stabilizing contaminated soil is disclosed. The soil is homogenized in a homogenizer; dropped into a mixer below the homogenizer and mixed with an additive; then dropped to a processing terminus located below the mixer. The apparatus and method are useful for processing highly clumped and/or acidic soil, e.g., soil contaminated with mining waste.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for processing waste material comprising: a vibrating screen box having a slightly sloped mesh screen and having openings of a desired size to separate lumps of the waste material that are larger than a predetermined size thereby removing lumps of the waste material of a size larger than the predetermined size from the waste material;   a homogenizer located below the vibrating screen box to receive waste material of a size less than a predetermined size from the vibrating screen box by gravity feed for homogenizing the waste material;   a pretreatment additive receptacle disposed generally above said homogenizer;   means for transferring pretreatment additive from said pretreatment additive receptacle to said homogenizer   a mixer located below the homogenizer to receive waste material from the homogenizer by gravity feed, the mixer accumulates a batch of waste material and weighs the batch of waste material to determine an amount of additive to be added to the waste material for mixing with the waste material;   a primary additive receptacle;   means for transferring additive from said primary additive receptacle to said mixer; and   a processing terminus located below the mixer to receive the waste material from the mixer by gravity feed.   
     
     
       2. A method for processing waste materials comprising the steps of: receiving a waste material in a vibrating screen box;   vibrating the vibrating screen box to separate lumps of the waste material that are larger than a predetermined size thereby removing lumps of the waste material of a size larger than the predetermined size from the waste material;   discharging the waste material of a size less than the predetermined size into a mixer;   accumulating a batch of waste material in the mixer;   weighing the batch of waste material to determine an amount of additive to be added to the waste material;   mixing and homogenizing the waste material with the additive in the mixer to form a mixture;   dropping the mixture from the mixer to a processing terminus located below the mixer.   
     
     
       3. The method of claim 2 wherein the waste material is a solid or semi-solid. 
     
     
       4. The method of claim 2 wherein the processing terminus comprises a vehicle. 
     
     
       5. A method for processing waste materials comprising the steps of: receiving a waste material in a vibrating screen box;   vibrating the vibrating screen box to separate lumps of the waste material that are larger than a predetermined size thereby removing lumps of the waste material of a size larger than the predetermined size from the waste material;   discharging the waste material of a size less than the predetermined size into a mixer;   accumulating a batch of waste material in the mixer;   weighing the batch of waste material to determine an amount of additive to be added to the waste material;   mixing the waste material with the additive in the mixer to form a mixture;   dropping the mixture into a homogenizer after mixing, the homogenizer located below the mixer;   receiving the mixture into the homogenizer;   homogenizing the mixture in the homogenizer; and   dropping said mixture from the homogenizer to a processing terminus located below the homogenizer.   
     
     
       6. The method of claim 5 wherein the waste material is a solid or semi-solid. 
     
     
       7. The method of claim 5 wherein the processing terminus comprises a vehicle.